Wednesday, 11 July 2012

Getting Your Money's Worth From Property Investment

Property Investment with Immediate Returns

Property investment with immediate rental returns is a preferred option for many investors in today’s environment.  The reasons commonly cited are a fixed deposit saving rate at 0.5% per annum or less, a mortgage rate at a historical low of around 1% to 1.5% per annum and an inflation rate at over 3%. As property is a physical asset, it is generally viewed as a lower risk option than other investment products.

What is the current return on investment in a residential property?

Your “Return on Investment (ROI)”in a property (or the Yield) is usually expressed as a percentage of the cost of the investment property. There are also nett and gross yields:
  • a nett yield is the return shown as a percentage after costs such as property tax, maintenance fees and other charges
  • a gross yield is simply the percentage derived from dividing the income by the cost of the property

You can enjoy immediate returns when you purchase a completed project with tenancy. With careful selection, you can own a property with positive cash flow.  An example is Rafflesia at Bishan, developed by Far East Organization. The following is a simple calculation of ROI for a high floor unit, #20-09 at the Rafflesia condo.  As shown below, you will get an estimated nett return of 3.17% per annum.
Property Price ( PP )
$1,570,000
Cash 10% ( A )
$157,000
CPF / Cash 30% ( B )
$471,000
Stamp Duty ( SD )
$41,700
Rental income p.a ( R )
$61,800
Loan installment p.a ( L )
$36,204
based on 60% loan, 0.97% interest rate, 30 years

Maintenance fee p.a ( M )
$4,464
Property Tax ( PT )
$6,180
Nett cash income p.a ( R - L - M - PT )
$14,952
Nett rental yield ( < R - M - PT > / < PP + SD > ) x 100%
3.17%

You can also evaluate this investment by looking at the returns on the cash (including CPF) you use for this property. If we assume that you borrow 60% of the purchase price and use 40% cash, your estimated return on cash is 7.64%. Please see calculation below.


Nett cash return yield

( < R - M - PT > / < A + B + SD > ) x 100%
7.64%

Source: PropertyGuru